By Miriam G. Desacada
Palo,Leyte–The Department of Health-Region 8 (DOH-8) has assured the public that, to date, there is no confirmed case of the dreaded Mpox disease in Eastern Visayas.
Based on the latest findings of DOH-8’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU), the four suspected Mpox cases being monitored now in a hospital in the region has not been confirmed yet as Mpox cases.
The RESU had already collected specimens from the four patients and sent these to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila for laboratory examination and either confirmation or denial that these current cases in the region are Mpox diseases.
Information on one of the patients that reached the media was that the suspected Mpox case was a 24-year-old male who, according to the Northern Samar Provincial Health Office (NSPHO) in Catarman where he is confined, was suffering a two-week fever, body weakness, and vesicular rashes.
Similar with other three suspected Mpox cases, these were symptoms of the disease, but this matter must be confirmed yet by the RITM. The Catarman patient had no travel history and is currently isolated while confirmatory testing is still underway, while health authorities there had started contact tracing as part of their monitoring protocol.
While the lab procedures are being conducted at the RITM, the patients of suspected Mpox cases have been put in isolation to avoid the possible spread of any disease.
Also, the DOH-8 had intensified its surveillance activities against Mpox, and its information campaign on the disease including the strict observance of minimum public health standards.
The agency had been extending technical assistance to various local government units in the region and their respective health facilities and rural health units in warning the public of the dangers of spread of the disease by being alert and well monitored of verified facts about the disease and how to avoid infection. —Miriam G. Desacada